


An Outlaw's Queen

by wings128



Series: Once Upon A Fandom Fairy Tale [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 06:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2058105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wings128/pseuds/wings128
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“There is but one way, and should you move him now, that way will be lost forever.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Outlaw's Queen

**Author's Note:**

> Written for theladymore's prompt at LJ's Fairy Tale Meme:  
>  _Once Upon a Time, Robin/Regina, in a heavy twist of irony and shits and giggles SNOW WHITE!_

“AT LAST!” The balding man of unassuming stature proclaimed to the bedraggled gathering of Nottingham’s population. “HERE LIES THE BANDIT ROBIN HOOD!”

Shocked gasps and moans of misery scurried on the silence that overflowed the grey cobblestone courtyard outside South Gate.

“HERE HE SHALL LAY! AS WARNING TO ALL! DISOBEY ME AND I, SHERRIF OF NOTTINGHAM, WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!”

He paused a moment longer, held the crowd’s gaze then turned on his heel in a swirl of richly furred cloak and headed past the sentry into the dark interior; satisfaction rich in every step.

~♥~

“It was all I could do to slow the poison!” The apothecary pleaded hoarsely past the choke hold on his stringy throat. “With his wife gone to the grave ahead of him, I doubt even my spell will hold past his broken heart for long.”

Little John released his grip and the spindly man dropped to the forest floor like nothing more than a bag of bones and rags; his breath clawing to be free of his chest as he watched the men huddle in conference.

“There must be something we can do!”

“’S’not right!”

“We must bring him home!”

“Against an army of the Sherrif’s men, ‘tis suicide, man!”

“It’s Robin! Nothing less than he’d do for any one of us!”

“There is but one way, and should you move him now, that way will be lost forever.” The old man used the tree at his back to bring himself to his feet before he continued. “The poison rests as does your leader, should you move him, the poison moves. Straight to his heart and nothing shall stop it.”

“You speak of a way, Old One,” John growled, a whisper more of patience in his tone than before. “Speak or I shall remove your tongue!”

T’was a hollow threat; they all knew it even as the echo of it sent shivers up everyone’s spines.

“Robin Hood was loved by all and returned it hundredfold by every act and deed. Be there one whom this man loved more than any another?”

“She is dead.” John growled, the sound more menacing than his words a moment before.

“Yes,” the old man agreed, voice muffled by his hood as he bowed his head. “But what of the one that was once evil?”

The men of Robin’s band murmured amongst themselves again, their looming presence focused on the apothecary’s words rather than extinguishing his life.

“I do not believe that Robin held tender feelings for the witch,” John pivoted from the group to address the old man with quiet acknowledgement for the first time, “yet I shall not allow any hope to pass us by. Will shall take word; you best hope your plan has solid foundations, old man.”

~♥~

“It was the fruit, m’lady,” Will explained as the horses picked their way through the knotted tentacles of ancient roots that sprawled across the forest floor like a wrinkled carpet. “Sherrif laced them in poison.”

Regina felt her heart clench painfully tight in her chest, ‘why’d she ever put the cursed thing back?’

“Robin always checked the loads afore giving it t’ the villages. Nothin’ spoiled would go.”

“It was an apple?”

“Yes, m’lady, an apple so red it made y’mouth water t’look upon it.” Will nodded so hard his head looked sure to come loose. “Me mam always used to say temptation looks the prettiest.”

“Indeed.” Regina replied, Memory’s unwanted irony tugging down her lush mouth. “Where is he?”

“In the South Gate courtyard of Nottingham Castle, m’lady, glass coffin ‘n’all.” Will answered with a sniff before kicking his horse into a gallop as they reached open ground.

~♥~

Regina could see Robin from where she crouched, her rich robes of velvet and silk hidden beneath borrowed homespun brown. He looked just the same, perhaps a little pale, but from afar it was still possible to believe he merely slept. Regina knew better, had used a similar plan herself in a past she’d worked so hard to forget. Thirty paces from her hiding place amongst the fishmonger’s stores of pickled Herring; she could see her second chance, her happy ending, expiring with every moment they waited.

‘Was this how Charming had felt, when confronted with the loss of Snow?’

A whistle disguised as the call of a crow. The signal; agreed upon before reaching Nottingham’s gate. It was time to move.

Regina watched, eyes alert for anything that heralded disaster; but all was well. She noticed the quiet removal of the guards, one by one, each silenced by Robin’s loyal men. Loyalty inspired by love, not fear. 

It was if the crowds knew their plan, of her part in it; as if they approved – not that she desired or needed their approval – she was her outlaw’s Queen. She was Robin’s and he needed her, just as Daniel once had; only now she was strong. Strong enough to save the one she…loved?

Alone in the busyness of the marketplace, Regina lifted the hinged lid of Robin’s prison. He should be breathing. His strong chest, once solid and warm where he’d held her against him – now cool and still.

“Please,” she whispered against ghosted pink flesh; a single tear falling on marble-like skin to slide unheeded onto white linen. “Don’t leave me.”

Robin’s lips did not give with the pressure of their kiss against her own. Nothing moved, save the sweet summer breeze playing in her raven hair. She had failed. She was not enough.

The warmth of his hand on the back of her head, fingers tentative in her wavy tresses, was like a wish imagined within her heart. Regina lifted her cheek from his chest, forest brown leather smeared with red rouge, to discover her love’s blue eyes alight for her. She could call him her love, for Death’s hand had been stayed by her kiss.

“R…”

“Hush, now.” Regina smiled through her tears as she brushed gentle fingertips over lips now coloured with life. “Nothing matters outside of now.”


End file.
